This invention relates to animal restraint devices, and more particularly pertains to devices which restrains an animal from biting or worrying with its mouth an area of its body which is undergoing therapeutic treatment.
It often is desirable to restrict an animal's range of motion in order to prevent an animal from reaching a part of its body with its mouth, so that it will be unable to bite or otherwise interfere with a site on its body on which a surgical procedure has been performed.
A prior device of this type is disclosed by King, U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,942. King discloses an animal restraint device designed to restrict lateral flexing of an animal's spine to prevent the animal from reaching many parts of its body with the mouth or paws. A plastic stave is passed on each side of the animal from the shoulder to the hip. A ring passing through the front of a stave may be attached to the animal's collar. Flexible material such as leather, webbed fabric strap, or nylon rope pass over the back and are attached to the staves. Pull members, formed of the same material, pass under the body. Plastic tubing may be placed over a pull member to protect against contaminating urine.
It is believed that the device as taught by King may not be sufficiently sturdy to withstand the activities of a strong, vigorous animal unless it is connected to a collar. Not all animals are provided with collars. Therefore, an improved device for, and which is suitable for use independent of a collar, would be welcomed by veterinarians and others working with domesticated animals.